COMMENT | Sony E3 Press Conference Impressions

The Sony press conference for this year is done and dusted, and we'll have a detailed Game Buzz for you after some sleep, dealing with all of the reveals from today, but here are some immediate reactions from the team and the community on Sony's presser...

Matt

Let's quickly recap: no new draconian policies dictating what you can or can't do with the games that you've bought; no regulation on used games; no online requirement for the PS4; no licensing palaver or need to register online every day; indies can self-publish on PS4; Playstation Plus will be required to play online on PS4, but the service is being expanded, and you'll get DriveClub for free.

And it costs £349/$399.

This was a press conference that, admittedly after some box-ticking waffle, got down to continuing the message Sony had delivered back in February. This wasn't a press conference of antagonism, we weren't presented with a product and forced to #dealwithit, Sony couched the PS4 specific terms, as if to say "Hey, we're listening," before Andrew House almost started issuing battle cries towards the end.

The epic swathe of indie games did it for me, along with the phrase "self-publish" which shows that Sony have faith in creatives as much as consumers. Final Fantasy XV sent shivers down my spine and did, for the first time ever, the extended look at Destiny. No, they're not necessarily exclusives, but Sony made them sparkle. Same goes for the intriguing appearance from The Elder Scrolls Online.

The one bum note was perhaps the mandatory PS Plus subscription for PS4 owners looking to play online but given the expanded opportunities and massively increased server-side considerations that this next generationwill surely usher in, that's perhaps to be expected. Quite frankly, if you're a PS3/Vita owner and not on PS Plus already, the joke's on you.

There's one other thing too: with Naughty Dog and Quantic Dream focused on giving the PS3 a good send-off, its the B-team that have the job of making the PS4's launch look attractive by providing exclusives, and Killzone and DriveClub don't quite appear to match up to the likes of Titanfall and Forza. There'll be more announcements to come before release, though, and Gamescom will be oh so very interesting indeed.

In the end, it wasn't the games that necessarily swung this one: but a series of Powerpoint slides and a triple-digit figure. And I'm absolutely fine with that.

Jon

Sony killed it today. Absolutely, totally crushed it.

Things started slow, mind. Tretton's preamble lasted an age once the dubstep montage came to an end, while the console itself turned out to be... shock horror... a black box. A black box at an ugly jaunty angle, mind, but a black box regardless. We also saw some more of the games we already knew about, with Killzone: Shadow Fall and inFamous: Second Son looking as shiny yet generic as ever. All seemed lost, until Sony announced a steampunk London demon hunting experience as the press conference went from bland to utterly emphatic.

If The Order: 1886 looked promising, the indie rampage that followed was utterly glorious. As my most anticipated game of 2014 so far, Transistor made me dry-mouthed with lust, and the news that Sony have dibs on console exclusivity reduced me to a gibbering nonsensical wreck. Then we got Oddworld. Galaxy. Don't Starve. Epic indie game after epic indie game poured onto us in a gorgeous torrent of gaming goodness. Sony won the day then and there, but didn't stop.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII may not be an exclusive, but Kingdom Hearts III made me forget all about it immediately. Timed exclusives from all manner of developers - even a beta for The Elder Scrolls Online - made an appearance, while many multiplatform titles (such as Destiny and Watch Dogs) decided to throw their weight behind gameplay debut reveals. I already knew that the likes of Warframe and Planetside 2 were bound for the console, which are two of my favourite current addictions.

And then Tretton delivered the one-two sucker punch of no used game regulation, and no online requirement. He might have tried to use anti-Microsoft sentiment to sneak past mandatory PlayStation Plus subscriptions for online play - something we'll discuss in depth over the coming months - but the bonuses will arguably make it worthwhile. Not exactly classy, but good news overall.

Then £349.99 happened.

Sony revealed a console that costs less, provides more and caters for gamers. I can't argue with that. Even though I don't currently own a PS3, I can feel where this generation is leading me.

Your move, Nintendo.

Carl

Well, that was somewhat unexpected.

A slow start quickly gained momentum thanks to a look at what we still have yet to come on the PS3 and Vita, but then the sucker punches came one after another. Final Fantasy XV, Kingdom Hearts 3, The Elder Scrolls Online, The Order, All Access back catalogue for PS3, PS4 AND the Vita all announced, along with some intense support from the Indie development scene - including Supergiant Games. Admittedly, a lot of the games that were shown won’t be exclusive, but the ones that were touted to be PS4-only were looking very good indeed, including the charming Knack.

And then came the Used Games announcement, and Jack Tretton basically kicked Microsoft to the ground. It was wonderful and brutal to watch at the same time, but as consumers it was exactly what we needed to hear from them. PlayStation Plus becoming a necessity for online multiplayer was a step back I feel, but with the inclusion of more games, the announcement that DriveClub being one of the first games on offer, as well as the service covering PS3, Vita and PS4, there was a silver lining to the news. Besides, with PS+ being such good value in its current state, it’s not really going to change much for me anyhow.

With the price being at a rather sweet £349, unless they do something catastrophically idiotic between now and November, Sony could be on to one of their biggest success stories to date.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to go lie down….

We canvassed some of our loyal Twitter followers who'd stayed up to watch the Sony presentation, and here are a few of their thoughts...

@Dealspwn bit sly how they proper glossed over the fact you have to pay for multiplayer now, but I've been paying for xbox live so whatevs

Funny how in all the positives (shoddy presenting skills aside) some people still focus on the one negative (which brings PS4, not PS3 or Vita users) which when you consider that MS charge 360 users for gaming online anyway is a bit of a moot point.

Driveclub PS+ edition free with PS+ over 40 odd games a year (some huge titles and new releases too - I'm looking at you XCom Enemy Unknown) while Xbox Live Gold will get 12 games until Novemeber (as a time-limited promotion too).

As far as I'm aware MS will still be only allowing Xbox Live Gold customers to play online, so what's the deal?

Funny how in all the positives (shoddy presenting skills aside) some people still focus on the one negative (which brings PS4, not PS3 or Vita users) which when you consider that MS charge 360 users for gaming online anyway is a bit of a moot point.

Driveclub PS+ edition free with PS+ over 40 odd games a year (some huge titles and new releases too - I'm looking at you XCom Enemy Unknown) while Xbox Live Gold will get 12 games until Novemeber (as a time-limited promotion too).

As far as I'm aware MS will still be only allowing Xbox Live Gold customers to play online, so what's the deal?

Don't get me wrong I agree that Xbox Gold isn't free but in all the years the one argument sony had is that their online was free and pants tbh so now why are they charging for it ?

I've been paying XB Live since 2004 costing me what £300 maybe what 9p a day ? I could find more than that walking to work as change on the street so the cost of online was never an issue, it's if the cost is equated to the quality and yes Xbox live was always quality and continues to improve.

But with PS PLUS you don't own the games you are renting them as soon as you end it the games arent yours so perks are expected really to get that £5 a month out of you.

Where in the press conference was the PS4 os ? Is it an improvement over the current PS3 which is dated? If I'm paying for online what am I paying for as well ? We havent seen the OS since what Feb when they announced the PS4?

Regardless I will get the PS4 on release over the X1 merely because I'm not faffing with the Kinect and DRM rubbish

I never have a problem with not owning the games at £5 a month, if you think about it why would anyone?. Most games get 1 or 2 play through's and then move onto the next. Anything particularly outstanding I would buy. Maybe the lack of choice might be an issue but it does offer gaming diversity. Might as well try that game as it's free this month.

"You're not paying £349. You're paying £349 plus an annuity of circa £30/year thereafter" The same yearly cost as Xbox Live? or as a direct comparison when buying look at it this way.
PS4 + 3 years worth of online access = Xbox One with one year Xbox Live.

PC gaming doesn't really fit in here; this battle is for your TV / living room space. Pc gaming is great, but still suffers from being a "solo" activity done on a computer in the study/bedroom. Maybe over time steam big picture might change that I don't know?

The fact of the matter really is who will be buying these next gen consoles and when. Out of my close Xbox live friends I'd say 2 would get the Xbox One leaving 20 still on 360 live so what happens when my friends are all playing COD on 360 can I play them on my X1 or do I play alone?

PC gaming doesn't really fit in here; this battle is for your TV / living room space. Pc gaming is great, but still suffers from being a "solo" activity done on a computer in the study/bedroom.

I disagree, with the advent of most laptops/GPU's having HDMI output it's no longer a faff to plug your pc into a big screen. Its a simple as a console. With the added benefits that steam goes with you everywhere has cloud sync already requires no fee and the games are cheap as and often superior to their "lounge" counterparts. Consoles need exclusives to win the living room battle now IMHO. I personally think that means new IP's not new iterations of existing stagnating franchises.

I may be in the minority, I don't know but I stopped playing on xbl/psn ages ago the community on-line drove me away as did M$ and their monetization models. Rather than paying to play on-line on a console I think the money is better sunk into PC hardware. Plus as I said the games are often so cheap that it doesn't matter if you get 'loaned' 2/3 or whatever new games on consoles when you can buy them with the money you saved on PC a shedload cheaper.

I'm not a platform devout I go where the games I want are, I have had almost every major system going since the 80's and still have most of them. But I think console manufacturers have lost the plot. Sony did first then Nintendo then Microsoft. Although this was all within a generation mind! Sony seems to be winning back with the PS4 attitude for the most part. Not sure about the stargate-esque box stylings however... Still it doesn't look like a beta-max

I'll not be getting a machine at launch (I'll likely wait six-twelve months to see what games come out, how the systems perform, hardware reliability, and online infrastructure etc.) so I can't say for certain which machine I'll be getting - but I can see which way the wind's blowing.

Love the one twitter-post implying Dead Rising 3 to be exclusive. Microsoft showed a lot of new games but they never did state which were exclusive or not to give the implication that everything shown is only to be found on Xbox One, aka the likes of MGS5 and Dead Rising 3 and more that are outside of Microsofts' publishing or ownership.

Dead Rising 2 was multiplatform, I'd find it hard to believe that after that, that they'd go back to being Microsoft-Exclusive unless they full-up paid Capcom to stay exclusive to look more enticing. Since as we all know, Capcom is in it for as much money as they can possibly get per-game. PS4 isn't hard to develop for as PS3 would've been, so logically-speaking, nothing would stop Capcom from developing Dead Rising 3 to PS4.